Dissemination of false information about vaccination is an 'urgent public health threat', medical director calls on media to take action



In the United States, the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has been vaccinated since

December 2020, but as of July 16, 2021, only 47.88% have completed two vaccinations. It has been pointed out that the pace of inoculation is slowing down. Meanwhile, Medical Director Vibeck Mercy , head of the US Public Health Service Commission, called on social media and news organizations to 'take significant steps to combat misinformation about vaccination.'



US Surgeon General Issues Advisory During COVID-19 Vaccination Push Warning American Public About Threat of Health Misinformation | HHS.gov
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/07/15/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-during-covid-19-vaccination-push-warning-american.html

Surgeon General Calls On Tech To Take Steps To Combat Covid Misinformation – Deadline
https://deadline.com/2021/07/covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-facebook-fox-news-1234793846/

In the United States, where the vaccination rate is sluggish, the number of cases of the 'delta strain, ' which is a mutant strain of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), is rapidly increasing. The average number of people infected over the 7 days was 21,420 as of July 14, an increase of 43% compared to the previous week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on July 8 that '99.5% of new deaths in the United States are unvaccinated,' and increasing vaccination rates will reduce infections and deaths. There is an urgent need above.

99.6% of new corona infections & 99.5% of new deaths are 'unvaccinated' --GIGAZINE
https://gigazine.net/news/20210712-almost-all-covid-19-vaccinated-people/

On July 15th, Mercy released an advisory (PDF file) calling for the prevention of the spread of false information, saying that the spread of false information regarding vaccination is an 'urgent public health threat'. 'We live in a world where misinformation poses an urgent and alert threat today,' said Mercy, who appeared in the White House briefing room. Pointed out that it is one of the causes. 'Simply put, misinformation about health has cost our lives,' he said.

Advisories are calling on news media to train news media journalists and editors to avoid the amplification of misinformation. The advisory also urges the media to proactively address public questions and rethink 'shocking and provocative headlines' to attract readers and viewers.

'For example, when discussing conflicting views on a problem, on which side the scientific community stands, and how strong evidence is available for different views,' Mercy said in a media report. Give your readers a sense. '' Ask yourself, 'How much opposition are there among the experts?' 'Is the explanation given even if it is unlikely?' The emphasis was on ensuring that the reader had a good grasp of the context of the debate.

For vaccination has been cast is concern by the media and speech's conservatives, for example, FOX News is a conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson said, and 'The government should not be forced vaccination' claim was in addition, the news reporter Rob Schmidt said, of the 'vaccine is something that go against nature' opinion was stated.

On the other hand, some conservatives have said that anti-vaccine claims are dangerous. Conservative columnist Michael Gerson said, 'Fox News celebrities are motivated to vaccinate by exaggerating risk, emphasizing unproven alternative therapies, and normalizing anti-vaccine voices. You know that losing will result in more deaths that didn't have to die. It's hard for me to understand that these people make anti-vaccine claims. ' , in the column of the Washington post it was mentioned .



Mercy also looks at the role that social media played as a platform for spreading misinformation. 'Modern tech companies are making it possible for'misinformation to harm the environment of information with little accountability to users',' accusing him of cracking down on the spread of misinformation about vaccination. I am suing.

Previous studies have shown that only 12 anti-vaccineists produce most of the anti-vaccine content on social media, but not all of these people's accounts have been closed. ..

Only 12 anti-vaccines produce two-thirds of more than 810,000 social media anti-vaccine content-GIGAZINE



A Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement, 'We are working with government experts, health officials and researchers to protect public health and take proactive measures against misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. So far, we have removed more than 18 million misinformation about COVID-19, removed accounts that repeatedly violated these rules, and linked 2 billion people to reliable information about COVID-19 and vaccines. I insist.

According to a study conducted in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, the percentage of Facebook users accepting vaccines has increased by 10 to 15 percentage points compared to January 2021. It seems that the difference is also narrowing. He also said that most of the COVID-19-related information viewed in the second quarter of 2021 came from prestigious agencies such as UNICEF and WHO.

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